Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tuesday Is Ironing Day

In addition to having to wash the backing fabric FIVE times to get the red dye out (see yesterday's post), I also had to deal with trying to make my backing square after piecing it. Washing FIVE times (three times with Color Catchers) may have taken care of the bleeding problem, but it also made for a very, very soft piece of fabric (four yards worth) that was hard to get square. Any sizing that may have been in the fabric when it came off the bolt was long gone after FIVE washes. It was no longer crisp and easy to cut (after FIVE washes).

I don't use starch when I iron, but I do like to use Mary Ellen's Best Press (I buy it by the gallon). It helped a bit with getting the backing to be more manageable (after FIVE washes), but not completely. But I'll deal with it.

The backing fabric (washed FIVE times) is now loaded on my HQ16 along with the batting and quilt top...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the backing (did I tell you it was washed FIVE times?) isn't too wonky when I finish the quilting and take the whole thing off the machine.

My, I had a busy week. I washed my backing fabric FIVE times (or did I tell you that already...?)!